Furloughs becoming layoffs at Trump resort in South Florida

In this Nov. 20, 2019 photo, the entrance to the Trump National Doral resort is shown in Doral, Fla. The Trump golf resort in South Florida where President Donald Trump initially wanted to host this year’s Group of Seven summit has temporarily laid off over 500 workers. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

DORAL, Fla. (AP) — Some furloughs at a Trump golf resort in South Florida are becoming permanent layoffs.

A notice that the Trump National Doral Miami filed with the State of Florida last week says it is permanently laying off 250 workers out of 560 employees who were furloughed in March.

The positions include cooks, housekeepers, servers, engineers, golf concierges and service attendants. None of them are union jobs.

Back in March, the Miami-area resort along with other nonessential businesses in Florida closed to stop the spread of the new coronavirus. While some parts of the resort have reopened, other parts of the resort will be closed or have limited operations for some time, said David Feder, managing director of the resort, in a letter to state and local officials.

“Accordingly, we have had to reassess our initial understanding of the circumstances facing the Resort given new and unforeseeable information about the severity and duration of the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business,” Feder said.

Last fall, the White House announced plans to host the Group of Seven summit at the Doral resort but reversed course after bipartisan concern that he’d violate a clause in the Constitution that prohibits presidents from accepting gifts or payments from governments.

Last month, President Donald Trump’s private Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida said it was temporarily laying off 153 workers because of the new coronavirus.

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